Scale up your solutions for global market, Microsoft tells students"

The Director, Developer Evangelism, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Shina Oyetosho has said that unless tech start-ups scale up their software solutions for global market, they may not be globally competitive in the digital economy. Oyetosho who stated this while giving tutorial to Nigerian technology students who competed at the national finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup software competition held in Lagos recently said that the software code warriors must make a difference in the world with innovative solution. This year’s national finals competition had twelve participating teams drawn from various tertiary institutions within the country. 

Meanwhile, Team Humane from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife emerged winners of nationals finals in this year’s competition. The winning team, Team Humane, which comprised of Otaru Babatunde, Oyatope Blessing, Shoaga Victor, and Ayodele Obasegun, competed in the World Citizenship Category. With this development, Team Humane will compete in the Middle East and Africa semi-finals, for a place at the world finals scheduled to hold in Seattle, Washington in July this year. Their solution, Humane is a solution for the visually impaired, which enables them to interact and navigate freely on their mobile phones. The solution comes with an accompanying hardware known as the Humane handle, which interacts with apps installed on a device using Bluetooth. 

A visually impaired person would be able to navigate through various apps installed on his/her mobile phone using the handle and an integrated voice navigation system. Speaking shortly after the announcement, the team spokesperson, Ayodele Obasegun said they were concerned about solving a major challenge leveraging technology hence, embarked on this project. “We have been developing solutions for various organizations, and we felt a need to impact our community and the world as a whole, hereafter this solution for the visually impaired. It was initially targeted at gaming for the visually impaired, but later we felt we can do more than gaming.” , he said. Giving more tutorial to the students, Oyetosho explained that, “Apply the experience you have.

 Don’t throw away your solution after today. Make a difference with your solution. Use the feedback from the judges and work and refine your solution. Scale and monetize your product. What matters is what happens after the competition”.